New CO2 system...
- Thread starter adamatic
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
gheitman
Aquarium Advice Addict
The Nutrafin is more than adequate, and in fact may be overkill, for a 5 gallon tank. It depends on the type and amount of light you have in the tank. The CO2 ladder that is part of the Nutrafin system works just fine and I see no benefit for you in getting the Vortex Mini.
greenmaji
Aquarium Advice Addict
how much light could you possibly get over a 5 gallon hex.. the bulb would have to be tiny.. how many watts of light is it and is it fluorescent? Im doubting you would need CO2.. I dont think you could get 12-15watts of florescent light over the tank.. :?
gheitman
Aquarium Advice Addict
You can get a 10W compact fluorescent bulb that will fit in the hood of the Eclipse Hex 5. Instead of using the Nutrafin CO2 system I suggest adding Flourish Excel. I think it is a better solution for adding carbon to tanks that are 10 gallons or smaller.
TankGirl
Aquarium Advice Addict
For a tank that size you can definitely just use the bubble ladder, and even place the nozzle outlet in a higher position so the bubbles don't travel up the entire ladder, thus making sure you are not getting too much CO2 in the tank.
For a tank that size a really easy way to dose CO2 is to use Flourish Excel - this is carbon in a liquid form and you just pour some in every day. For larger tanks this gets expensive and is not practical, but for 5gals it works great, and does not take up any room in the tank.
For a tank that size a really easy way to dose CO2 is to use Flourish Excel - this is carbon in a liquid form and you just pour some in every day. For larger tanks this gets expensive and is not practical, but for 5gals it works great, and does not take up any room in the tank.
greenmaji
Aquarium Advice Addict
Keep an eye on your PH and KH readings to see how much CO2 your getting in the tank.. CO2 will help in the case of your tank.. it has at least medium light.. 
G
Guest
Guest
adamatic said:
Screw in? Doesn't that mean its just a regular 11W lightbulb?
greenmaji
Aquarium Advice Addict
Tony Starks said:
they make a CF with built in ballast that screws in.. Im assuming that is what they are talking about otherwise there isnt hardly any light in there.. and a CF bulb would be needed for plants..
wpg "breaks down" in smaller tanks, and screw-ins lose much of their light as you probably have a weak reflector, so you're closer to low light than medium light. For sake of comparison, I ran two 23w screw-in spiral CF with painted white reflector over 8g, and had medium light plants (L. Repens, for example) reaching for the light. Hagen kit is good -- as TG said you can mess with the top notch or increase contact time if wanted. Excel is great, but since you already have the Hagen it will work just fine, and is still beneficial under lower light. Just keep an eye on pH.
